Promises You Can't Keep
by The Review Guest
Summary: How many times had she promised them she'd come home? She couldn't remember. She'd said it so many times over the past couple of years, that they'd all blurred together. Regardless, it was fitting. After all, you shouldn't make promises that you can't keep.


"Summer Rose was the epitome of grace under pressure. A paragon of life and love. She was the best of us. She was..."

_She wasn't my real mom._

Yang clenched her teeth, eyes screwing shut with an anger and grief that threatened to fill her chest with a concrete mixture of emotion and sickness. She knew she should feel... different. She shouldn't be so angry, so removed from everything, but she couldn't help it.

_She wasn't my real mom._

That one thought send a renewed wave of distress through her, and a sense of abandonment and loneliness settled within her like a discarded piece of debris on the bottom of a churning ocean, kicking up small bursts of sand that scattered and fell against the walls of her stomach.

The bigger kick in the gut, which felt unfair to Summer, was that her real mom didn't want her.

She really was alone.

_And Summer wasn't my real mom._

"Yang?"

The young girl felt a pang, and she looked at the toddler who had sidled up to her to hold her hand.

"You'we sad." Ruby said confidently, squeezing Yang's hand. Yang smiled. Ruby had always been observant, the little girl knew exactly when others were feeling down or hurt.

_Little girl._ Yang thought, eyes watering. Wasn't she a little girl? She didn't feel like it. She didn't want to go play, or anything that she thought a little kid should want to do, she just wanted to go lay down.

"... I'm okay, Ruby." She finally said. There was no sense in putting her issues on the shoulders of a four year old. She had already dragged the girl on a foolish quest to find her real mom. She had nearly gotten Ruby, and herself, killed. She could still hear the epitaph of her... of Summer, in the background.

Ruby sniffled, nodding. She was quiet for a while, before she said: "I miss Mommy."

Yang winced. Ruby hadn't came up to her to comfort Yang, she'd approached because she herself had needed comfort.

Yang looked around, eyes searching for her Dad. When she found him, she realized that he probably wasn't in any state to comfort anyone. His eyes had sunk into his skull, his skin was a deathly white. He looked for all intents and purposes like he should have switched places with his wife.

She sighed, reaching around Ruby's shoulder comfortingly. "I miss her too, kiddo."

Ruby sniffled a little more. "I wanna go home." She whimpered, tears pooling at the inner corner of her eyes. "I don't wanna be with awe the people."

Yang agreed, nodding her head. She looked around at all the grown ups. None of them seemed to be paying any attention to either her or Ruby, so she made a snap decision. They were hosting the funeral on the hill a few hundred feet from their house (why even have a funeral with no body to bury?), so she could get Ruby away from the crowd and get her something to cheer her up pretty quickly. She looked around a bit more, and her eyes caught a familiar outline.

_Uncle Qrow._

Yang turned to Ruby, eyes locking with the child's. "I'll be right back." She said clearly.

Ruby nodded, a fresh wave of tears washing down her cheeks.

Yang turned, and strode up to her uncle. She tugged on his sleeve, and he turned around, a sad smile crossing his face.

"Hey kiddo."

Qrow had been the one who had saved her and Ruby when Yang had dragged the girl on her fool's errand to find her mom. She shook away the memory. Now wasn't the time to think about her mistakes. She gestured for Qrow to come closer, and he bent down on one knee until he was at Yang's eye level.

"I'm gonna take Ruby home." She whispered. "It's too much."

Qrow blinked, surprised. He seemed to watch her for a moment, then smiled.

"Okay. I'll let your Dad know."

He gave Yang a reassuring pat on the shoulder, and she went trudging back to Ruby.

"C'mon." She said to Ruby. "We're gonna go find some cookies."

Ruby's eyes lit up, and she grabbed Yang's hand again. "Choc-wit?"

"Chocolate." Yang agreed.

As the two tottered down the hill back to their home, another thought struck Yang, one that hurt almost as much as the others.

_I'll never be her real mom._


End file.
